Perilla is infamous I suppose for having a long incubation time. An internet resource I checked said he sprouted the seeds before planting them so I did the same. Two weeks later still nothing. So I dumped the soil of unborn perilla plants into a bed and laid down some arugula sprouts. One month later the arugula thrived. Now two months later, the arrugula is being overrun by the Perilla. Perilla likes higher soil temperatures so now being May, I sprouted the seeds as recommended before planted the seeds into soil. I thought the seeds had died, but it turns out they just weren't ready. It's been informatory and a reminder of how much gardening will be a continuous learning process. I have about 14 little plants that will need to be transplanted onto guerilla gardening plots quickly! since the circular bed will only support 3-4 mature plants.
Like many things in life the projects I've taken on had unknown steps to take until some things could only be done good enough instead of stellar. Since farming is not my full-time job, I can not devote all my time to doing it perfectly, and some things have been neglected when things came up in life that had to be dealt with first.
There are some Jerusalem Artichokes that I haven't planted. Some have been lost to mold, and the others need to be planted. I just have prioritized other things at the moment such as working out and eating cleanly. Now, it's a matter or plant them now or don't plant them at all, a stark choice that makes this a priority.
I am afraid that two of my food composts have been severely neglected. The food has to be mixed with a nitrogen rich leaves to break down, but I haven't and if there wasn't a good breeze on my roof, I would have gotten rid of the rotting mass it has become. If was doing a good job with the last two boxes of food waste that I am speaking about than I would have probably mixes in leaves about a day or two following the food. But its been about a week without any leaves to help it break down.
My forest compost system is great, because its the simplest and needs the least amount of input, A shallow whole and the food and covered with leaves in the forest will produce a good result and will not offend my white collar neighbors.
Unfortunately, the leaves are not far persay from me to gathe, but in the city it can be hard to make the trip to gather leaves when I have a short window of time when work finishes until bedtime. That isn't an excuse, because ultimately that is my fault and it isn't enough. I should have prepared better on the weekend. My shame will help me to comply with this.
It goes to show that the simpler something is, the easier it is to comply, something that speaks for why living in the country is going to be more ecologically friendly, since I would have way less hauling and inputs to maintain this garden. It also shows me, how much better I need to do.
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